The Equilibrium Distribution for Free Electrons in a Real Gas

The equilibrium distribution for free electrons in a real gas is derived based on the existence of an interaction potential between a free electron and its nearest neighbor atom (or ion). The form of the interaction potential is inversely proportional to rl where l is a constant; and the derived distribution reduces to the Maxwellian form when the interaction is neglected. It is shown that for most physical situations this interaction potential will only contribute a miniscule change to those electron properties which are dependent upon<|vj|>, j>-3 where <|v|> is the electron speed.